Bottle packaging machine



March 6, 1945. J. CATTONAR EIAL 2,371,027

BOTTLE PACKAGING MACHINE Original Filed March 26, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 HH I 131 3 I 141 4 U 3 INVENTORS fair: ('mzonar and c'orge 01m 3 Me/i' ATTORNEY March 6, 1945. J. CATTONAR ETAL 2,371,027

BOTTLE PACKAGING MACHINE Original Filed March 26, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Join ['azzwzar BY and flea/ya film March 6, 1945. J. CATTONAR ETAL 2,371,027

BOTTLE PACKAGING MACHINE Original Filed March 26, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 f INVENTORS 747 i E5 ('afiorzai 'HHIHII 5- and 520496 film 4 i 2 BY 14 3 7? 74 742 v 746 3%) ATTORNEY March 1945- J. CATTONAR ETAL BOTTLE PACKAGING MACHINE Original Filed March 26, 1941 4 SheetsSheet 4 Hi [E INVENTORS 707m mama BY z 660/ 60/:

C9. 7? 60 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 6, 1945- ,PACKAGIN G MACHINE John (lattonar,- Jamaica,

torin, Long Island, N. Ermold 00.. New York New York and George 01m, As- Y., aslignors to Edward N. Y., a corporation of Original application March 26, 1941, Serial No. this application February 6, 1942, Ser ialNo. 429,745

2 Claims. (cl. zzs-u') 385,240. Divided and This invention relates to improvements in packaging machines. More specifically, the present invention embodies improvements in the packaging machine described in our Patent No. 2,277,688, dated March 31, 1942, which describes the loading of bottles or jars or similar containers into boxes or cases or crates, having compartments to receive the bottles or containers.

This is a division of our application Serial No. 385,240, filed March 26, 1941, issued .as U. 8. Letters Patent No. 2,332,058 on October 19, 1943.

In packaging bottles, it sometimes happens that a bottle full of warm beer, or other beverage may explode while being handled by the machine. Sometimes a defective bottle having been overlooked by the inspector and having found its way to the machine, cannot be handled properly by the mechanisms of the. machine. Thisinvention provides a safe means of disposing of such a bottle and to deposit it in the propercell assigned to it by the grouping means of the machine in the same manner as if it had not been damaged or broken by the explosion or become defective. It

is better to deposit a defective bottle into the case than to have the defective bottle which went that far into the machine interfere with the good operation of the machine and create a breakdown of the bottling operation in the plant.

The invention includes a frame of chutes, lo-

cated between a trap floor and a spring basket,

including the frame of chutes roper and the motion of the spring basket in relation to the trap floor and cells formed by vertical rods. The end of the springs of the spring basket are already into the cells of the box or case at the time the bottle supporting strips of the trap floor are shifted from under the bottles to the spaces between the bottles, by the motion of a bottle slider previous to the gripping operation performed by a series of gripping devices. These gripping devices are designed to grip solidly the necks of a charge of bottles being handled by the machine and lower them through the spaces between the trap floor strips, through the frame of chutes and spring basket into the case to be loaded which is on a lower level. The charge of, bottles is grouped by a grouping device which will group one row of bottles or a multiple number of rows of bottles and the number of bottles in any row or the number of rows of bottles corresponds with the number of gripping devices and the number of pockets and rows of pockets, to be loaded with bottles, in the partitioned case. The grouping of the charge of .bottles is accomplished by means as tained in a frame work composed of walls I and 2 of shutters located at one end of the grouping "station, to shut oi! the flow of bottles on the conveyor feeding the machine; pressure building members next to the shutters, exert a desired amount of pressure on the first one or more bottles on the conveyor, thereby holding back the fiow of bottles. and actuated by the same mechanism; a retractable bottle stopper. at the other end of the grouping station, stops the bottles in the charge after a predetermined number have entered, and after the feed is shut 01f, to free the bottles in the charge so that the pressure they exert on each other, is eliminated; slidably mounted side guides advance partly into the center of the row of bottles farthest from the bottle slider; and a stopper mounted on'the bottle slider advances partly into the centers of the row of bottles nearest to the slider.

The invention will be fully described hereinafter and embodiments shown in the drawings which illustrate a convenient arrangement of the novel features entering into our invention, it being understood that it is permissable to make slight changes of details to suit manufacturing requirements, without departing from the spirit of the present invention, defined within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the embodiment of the invention in a preferred way:

Figure 1 shows a front view of the improved machine with only two double gripping devices shown, although any numberof these may be used, so as to suit the number of bottles in the longer or, lengthwise rows of the case to be loaded; I i

Figure 2 shows a top view taken at about the level of line 22 of Figure 1, the position of the bottle slider being in the proper relation to the position of the gripper jaws of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation along a section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view" taken from line 4-4 of Figure 3 and shows the relation between the chute and the trap fioor above it and the spring basket below it;

Figure 5 is a front elevation of Figure 4 taken at line 58 of Figure 4, with the spring basket shown at its upper position infull lines and at its lower position in broken lines; and

Figure 6 is a partial section taken on line 6-6 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, the machine is conbetween the longer sides of which and crossmembers 3 and 4. Two large brackets of convenient shape support most of the mechanism on and about the bottle level, being indicated on the lefthand frame I by s, and on the right (Fig. 6) of a trap floor 8 is slidably mounted and covered with a' cover 3.

The trap floor consists of a suitably cast frame bottle supporting strips 16.

The shifting of the trap floor, first to place strips 16 in position to support the bottles being 'slided over'onto them by slider I33 and then to place them under the spaces between the bottles to permit lowering of the bottles by the gripping devices, as well as the mechanism operating slider I33, are fully described and illustrated in our Patent No. 2,217,688 of March 31, 1942.

As seen from Figures 1, 2 and 3, cam shaft I8 rotates in its bearings H and I2 of frames and 2 respectively and carries cams l3 and M of the same contour, which impart the necessary motion to a gripper carriage, through rollers l5, followers l6 and levers l1 which rock on shaft l8, which is fast on frames I and 2. To counteract the weight of the gripper carriage and the bottles being handled, a counterweight I3 is bolted to the rear end of levers l1. Levers |1 connect through links 28 to a cross member 2|, the two ends of which are guided by the flanged body of a rack 22, which is fast on frame I and a rack 23, which is fast on frame 2. On one end of cross member 2| one pinion 24 runs on pin 25, which is fast on-bearing 26 which is part of cross member 2| and engages rack 22 and diametrically opposite engages rack 21; at the other end of 2| another pinion 24 similarly mounted engages rack 23 and diametrically opposite engages rack 28. Guides 23 fastened on the cross member. 2| together with. covers 38 present two vertical guides into which racks 21 and 28 slide during their vertical movement. The upper end of rack 21 through a bracket '32 and adjusting screw 33 connects with one end of a gripper carrier 36, and likewise the rack 28 through bracket 34 and adjusting screw 35 connects with the other end of gripper carrier 36. As best shown in Fig. 1, cross member 2| through adjusting screw 31 connects with one end ofthe interrupter carrier 38 and through adjusting screw 33 connects with" the other end of interrupter carrier 38.

It will be apparent that the interruptor carrier 38 being directly connected with the pinion carrying cross member 2|, will travel up and down a distance equal to the motion imparted to 2| by cams l3 and, follower l6, levers l1, etc. Again the gripper carrier 38 being directly connected to the free racks 21 and 28 will travel up and down at the same time and in the same direction as interrupter carrier 38, but at a speed equal to twice'the speed of interrupter carrier 38. The

, K Gripper carrier 36, Fig. 1, is a cast framewith a long slot in which are slidably mounted blocks 48 which can be shifted by means of set screws 4| in slots 42 of cover plate 43 to match perpendicularly the distance between the center of adjacent bottles in the row or rows being assembled on trap floor 8 below. A threaded tube 44 is inserted into each block 48 and fastened rigidly are inserted ,to it by nuts 45 at one (upper) end, while at its lower end, also threaded, is fastened frame 46 carrying blocks 41 into which are inserted and to which are fastened, by means of nuts 43, tubes 48in the same fashion as tubes 44 are fastened tion at which blocks to are adjusted with tubes distance between the gripper and interrupter car- I that, at a predetermined time they will lock the necks of the bottles of the charge which is being brought under the grippers by the action of the bottle slider I33.

44. The result of this arrangement is that with blocks 48 the desired adjustment is obtained to match the distance btween the center of adjacent bottles in the row or rows, while with blocks 41 the desired adjustment is obtained to match the distance between the centers of two adjacent rows .of bottles of the charge being assembled previous to the gripping and loading operations. To the lower end'of tubes 48 are fastened blocks52 to which are hinged g pper jaws 54 on pins 53. (Figures 1 and 3.) Tension springs 51 of which each end is attached to one jaw 54, urge continuously the two jaws tolock, but their locking (gripping) and spring (releasing) operations depend entirely on the position on which rollers 55, Fig. 3,

carried also by jaws 54 on pins 56 roll on the oper-' ative faces of the key 12.

So far, a rigid and direct connection has been described to exist all the way from gripper carrier 36 to gripper jaws 54 and rollers 55. Inside of tubes 44 and along all their length are slidably inserted round bars which connect with collars 53, slidably set around tubes 44, by means of screws 68 at a point near their upper end, while at their lower end they connect in the same fashion with threaded collars 6| also by means of screws, not shown.

The interruptor carrier 38, similar in construction to gripper carrier 36, carries blocks 63 which, also can be shifted by means of set screws 64-in slots 65 of cover plate 66 to match blocks 48 thereabove. Tubes 44 are free to slide in blocks 63 of carrier 38 and also in threaded collars 6|. Screws 68 of collars 53 and the screws of threaded collars 6| of theround bars inside of tubes 44 are free to run in the wall of tubes 44 along'slots 61 above blocks 63 and along other slots, not shown, below collars 6| respectively. Between the shoulder of threaded collar 6| and nut 63 there is a loosely locked yoke 18 at each end of which is inserted a round bar 1| which slides in tube 48 and which at its lower end carries key 12 to operate the jaws 54 of the grippers. It will be observed from Fig. 1, that key 12 presents to each roller to run on, two vertically straight faces-and one sloped one between them.

The operation of the gripper jaws is now apparent. In their upward travel at the high rate of speed, racks 21 and 28 will take along gripper carrier 36, tubes 44 and 48 and their respective inner bars, jaws 54, keys 12 etc. to a point near the end of their'upward travel at which the top face of nuts 63 will hit the lower face of blocks 63 on carrier 38 which travels at the lower rate of speed.- This will cause the rate brackets 9I of speed at which the bars inside of tubes 44 and 48, their relative screws and collars, key I2 etc. travel, to be retarded, while jaws 54, tubes 44 and 48 and all parts connected therewith continue at the same high rate of speed for the rest of their upward travel. Rollers 55 will therefor run off the lower (opening) face of key I2, over the slope to the upper (locking) straight face whereby, by action of spring 51, jaws 54 will lock the neck of the bottle therebetween. At this time the upward travel will cease, trap floor 8 will shift and g with it the bottle supporting strips I8 from under retard the speed of the bars inside of the'tubes, I their relative screws, collars and key I2, while the tubes 44 and 48, jaws 54 and all parts con- 'the motion, shutters 95, 98 and links 94 connect to an extension, through bracket5, of shutters 85 and 96.

Shutters 95 and as eachconsist of a casting slidably mounted on 5 and carry a box shaped a member 91 into which-slides bar 98 at the end ofwhich are on'one, gate 99 and on the other, gate I00 above chains T1 of conveyor A,(Figure 3) At the same end of bars 98 are fastened bars IOI and I02. on which swiveling shoes I03 and I04.

are'set in (Figure 2). on the side of box shaped members91 are fastened-pins I05, and on bars 98 are fastened pins I06, tension springs I0I being hooked on the two pins so that bars 98 will be urged continuously forward until pins I 06 abut against boxes9'l, with the result that when shutters 95 and 96 move towards each other to shut off the flow of bottles, during part of their motion,

reach the side of the bottles. During the rest of boxes 91 continue theirclosing motion along bars 98 (Figures 1 and 2), extending springs I01 and causing them to exert a certain desired amount of presnected therewith will continue at the high rate of 0 speed for the rest of their downward travel; rollers 55 will run ofl the upper (locking) face of keys 12 up the slope to the lower (opening) face, and jaws 54 will be'so spread apart and the bottles will be released.

Compression spring I3 on bars 'II act as shock absorber for the bottles; indicators I4 and 15 point to marks on guides 29 and racks 21 and 28, respectively, and indicate the different heights at which the carriers 36 and 38 should be set in order to grip and release at the proper time bottles of difl'erent heights.-

To conveniently group a charge consisting of one or more rows of bottles, previous to the pushing, or sliding, gripping and lowering operations, a bottle feed conveyor A equipped with endless chains 11, of the conventional flat top style is shown in Figure 1. Chains II wind around driver sprockets I8 atone end and around idler sprockets at the other end, not shown, as well known. Sprockets I8 are driven in the conventional way, not shown, with roller chains and sprockets. Bottles are fed by the conveyor line coming from the labeling or other machine in the productionline of the plant, to our conveyor A in one or more rows, two rows will be handled by the arrangement shown by the drawings, and chains TI will convey them until the first bottle in the rows will stop at bottle stopper I9 (Figure 1).

At this point the flow of bottles on the conveyor is shut offand out as follows:

Cam 80 on camshaft I0 through roller 8I (Figure 3), follower lever 82 which rocks on shaft 83, link84, arm 85 of which the other end is fastened on shaft 88 rocking on bracket 81 bolted on frame I, and arm 880 which is also fastened on shaft 86 and of which the other endwith roller 81a, enters a recess of yoke 88 will transmit motion to yoke 88. At the upper part of yoke 88 are fastened longitudinal guiding strips 89 and 90 which serve to guide the bottles in straight lines when they are up with yoke 88 and bottles are fed in front of slider I33 previous to the grouping and pushing operations.

Fastened at each side of yoke 88 are bearing to which are attached the end of the short arm of levers 92 which are pivoted on pins 93 rocking also one in bracket 81 and the other on member 3 of the framework (Figure 3). The end of the long arm of levers 92 through sure, on one or more bottles between them, through pins I05, bars 98, MI, I02, etc.

At the far end of the shutter 95 (Figure 2), a

cross bar I08 is fastened, which carries three side guides I09, IIO, III, of which the central one I09 slides on guide II2 fastened on trap floor cover 9. These side guides will move forward against the bottles, with shutter casting 95 and will then stop with their forward ends in the spaces between the four central bottles.

Slightly before this point of the machine cycle, the bottles, being yet in two closed lines, will have to be freed from exerting any pressure on each other and at the same time they will have to be aligned as a single charge unit with the gripping devices before being pushed by slider I33 to trap floor 8 previous to the loading operation. This is accomplished by retracting bottle stopper I9 (Figure 1) in the following manner: Cross member 2I carries stud I I3 with roller I I4 which runs in track of vertical cam I I5 which cam swings on stud II6 of bracket II'I fastened on frame 2. To the lower end of vertical cam H5 is attached link II8 which through stud II9 connects the cam to bar I20 of bottle stopper I9 which is slidably mounted in bracket I2I bolted on top of 8. In the upward travel of member 2I, roller I I4 in cam II5 will at the determined time swing the cam which will retract bottle stopper I9 of a necessary amount to line up the charge of bottles with the gripping devices. Other side guides I22 are provided, which are stationary and fastened on cover 9, which will partition the bottles when on the trap floor 8. These are shown and described in our Patent No. 2,277,688, to which reference is made.

The charge of bottles will now be handled by slider I33. In Figure 2, cam I23 on shaft I0 imparts motion to slider I33 through roller I24, follower I25 rocking on shaft 83, link I26, arm I2'I, levers I28, links I29 and studs I30. Arm I21 and levers I28 are fastened on shaft I3I which oscillates in bearings I32 fastened on cross member 3 of the framework. At the beginning of the forward travel of bottle slider I 33, which is slidably mounted on top of bracket 5 with cover I34. and on bracket 6 with cover I35, stopper I38 on the end of the long arm of lever I31 goes At the time that bottles are grouped for the charge in front of slider I33, the short arm of lever I31, which swings on stud I38 fast on body of slider I33, rests on pin r139 fast on cover I34 and so the long arm of lever I31 retracts stopper I36 out of the path of the bottles traveling in front of slider I33. However, when the charge is grouped and the slider starts forward with it, the short arm of lever I31 leaves pin I39 and by action of tension spring I40, the long arm of lever I31 advances stopper I36 by a short distance into the center of the charge as already described. This will prevent the half of the row of bottles at the left from advancing too far to the right with chain 11 for a perfect pushing operation.

The progressive order at which the several operations, from grouping to gripping, are performed, may now be followed;

Bottles in two rows are fed to conveyor A 20 between gates 99, I and stopper 19, gates 99, I00 shut off the flow of bottles, shoes I03, I04 hold with spring pressure the head of the bottle flow out of the charge, longitudinal guiding strips 89 and 90 are lowered, side guides I09, IIO, III 25 advance partly into the row of bottles farthest from slider I33, stopper 19 is retracted to free the bottles and line up the charge, stopper I36 advances partly into the center of the row of bottles nearest to slider I33, the charge of bottles being pushed over to trap floor 8 while the gripping devices still on their way up will pause temporarily before locking the neck of all the bottles in the charge.

To dispose safely of a bottle damaged or defective for reasons not controllable by the machine, the timing of the different motion imparting mechanism have been so arranged as to have a spring basket, which is designed to guide each :bottle of the charge into its own cell in the case 40 and to straighten the partition thereof if necessary, enter the cells at the time that bottle supporting strips 16 are shifted from under the bottles. This would leave a considerable open space between the bottom of the trap floor and top of the spring basket at an unwanted time, and if this space were left open, not onlythe damaged bottle would be liable to fall, hit the top of the springs and bars of the basket and rest there, but also all the bottles in the charge being lowered, by the gripping devices would likely hit the top of the walls of their assigned place in the spring basket. Breakage would result and the value of such a machine impaired. To eliminate such happenings, a stationary frame of chutes is provided which ofiers a vertical, direct, and complete communication between the bottom of trap floor strips 16 and the inside of the spring basket sections leaving at the same time the spring basket free in its up and down travel.

The spring basket as shown in Figures 4 and 5 is a frame of bars forming a number of squares equal to the number of bottles in the charge being handled, and over the bars forming the 65 squares, leaf springs are folded which are double as indicated by I4I if they are mounted between two adjacent squares, and single as indicated by I42 if they are mounted on the external walls of the basket. A locking device is provided to hold 7 I43 which goes across them and through the "outer frame of the spring basket. The entire basket rests and is fastened on brackets I46. A cam on camshaft III, by means of roller, follower lever, not shown, fast on shaft 83, levers I41 also fast on shaft 83 and rollers I48 in track of brackets I43 impart motion to brackets I46, which will travel up and down on vertical shafts I48 and I50, fast on cross member 1 at the top and on other brackets, not shown at the bottom, carrying the spring basket.

As seen also in Figures 4,5 and 6, the frame of the chutes consists of an outer frame IBI fastened with pins I52 to cross member 1 on the rear and below trap floor 8. Across the long sides of the frame I5I, and connecting them, are cast bars I55 with blocks I56 which occupy a position above the four comers of four adjacent squares of the spring basket, or the two corners of two adjacent squares of the spring basket according to their. location in respect to it. Blocks I56 carry fastened to them vertical bars I51 ofwhich one fits into every corner of the spring basket. Their length is sufiicient to reach inside of the spring basket when the spring basket is at its lowest position of travel, the distance between each other, along the wall of the basket square, is less than the diameter of the bottle being handled, and their location is such that it permits free movement to the spring basket. The result is that free and continuous passages or cells are provided between the trap floor and the spring basket for the bottles being lowered and at the same time no bottle can fall out between bars I51. motion of the spring basket is not interfered with and any'damaged or defective bottle will have its way open and will be guided to the cell assigned to it in the case by the stationary chute. and by the springs of the spring basket which at this time will already have entered the partitioned cells of the case.

The improvements hereinabove set forth describe a frame of chutes located between a trap floor and a spring basket, including the frame of v tchutes proper and the motion of the spring basket in relation to the trap floor. The end of the springs in the spring basket are lowered into the cells of the box or case to be loaded at the time the bottle supporting strips of the trap floor are shifted from under the bottles, previous to the lowering operation performed by a series of bottle engaging grippers located above said trap floor.

From the foregoing it is believed that the construction and advantages of the invention may be readily understood by those skilled in the art without further description, it being borne in mind that numerous changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit Of the invention as set out in the followin claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bottle packaging machine, a bottle guiding device, comprising a slidable trap floor, a spring basket, a stationary frame of chutes located between said 'trap floor and said spring basket, means actuating the trap floor to permit the bottles thereon to be lowered into the spring basket, vertically disposed guide rods one at each corner of the frame of chute sections and extending downward into each corner of the spring basket sections and forming a cell, with means for moving the lower ends of the spring baskets into the partitioned compartments of a case, prior to the release of the bottles from the trap floor,

The.

whereby the bottles are guided downwardly by the frame of chutes and spring basket into the case.

2. In a bottle packaging machine, a bottle guiding device comprising a slidable trap floor, a spring basket, a stationary frame of chutes located between said trap floor and said spring basket, means actuating the trap floor to permit the bottles thereon to be lowered into the spring basket, vertically disposed guide rods one at each corner of the frame of chute sections and extending downward one into each corner of the spring basketsections, the set distance between said rods being less than the diameter of the bottle or articles being handled and forming a cell, with means for moving the lower ends of the spring basket into the partitioned compartments of the case prior to the release of the bottles from the trap floor, and gripping devices to grip the necks of the bottles'and release the same whereby the bottles are guided downwardly by the frame of chutes and spring baskets into the case, upon removal of the bottle supporting means at the shifting of the trap floor to allow the bottles to descend, and upon the release of the bottles by the gripping devicesto drop into the respective compartments of the case guided thereto by the rods of the frame of chutes and by the spring basket.

JOHN CA'ITONAR.

GEORGE OLM. 

